Teacher Information

Hard to believe but, it is time to discuss plans for Extended School Year (ESY).Many of you are already on top of this process.For those of you who are new to the District or who need a refresher, this letter will summarize important elements of ESY.

As a reminder, "School districts are required to provide Extended School Year (ESY) services to a student if the IEP team determines the services are necessary during a break in instruction in order to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education” (Minnesota Rule 3525.0755).There are three ways a student can qualify for ESY.

The eligibility and need for ESY services must be considered for every child with a disability annually at his/her IEP meeting. On the “Extended School Year” section of the IEP, you must indicate “No”, “Yes”, or “More Data Needed” regarding whether or not ESY services are required. Please remember, if you check “More Data Needed”, you will need to collect data and revisit the decision for ESY services. Your decision must be based on hard data, and the IEP must be updated based on the collected data to indicate “Yes” or “No” for ESY services.

If you do not yet have data for ESY, it would be important to begin taking your data so that you can determine ESY needs. Spring break is coming up. That might be a good time to collect regression/recoupment data if you have not already done so.

If a student is eligible for ESY, you will need to determine the specific goal(s) and objectives that need to be addressed. Services listed on the ESY service grid should be consistent with the identified goals for ESY. For example, if the student is eligible for ESY in the areas of Reading and Math, the ESY service grid should list Reading and Math. Services which the student does not receive during the school year cannot be provided in ESY. For example, if the student does not have social skills listed on the regular IEP service grid, social skills would not be an appropriate service during the ESY program.

In addition, ESY often does not address all of the goals and services listed on student’s IEP. Rather, only those goals for which the student qualifies for ESY services are addressed. For example, if the student demonstrates regression in Reading but does not demonstrate regression in Speech/Language, then ESY services would only occur for Reading.

The minutes listed on the service grid for the regular IEP are what the team determined was needed to make progress on IEP goals and objectives. Similarly, the minutes listed for each ESY service should be determined by what the student needs to maintain current skills during ESY.

Please attend carefully to the need for related services. The following concerns regarding related services were identified last summer:

Carefully consider the amount of related services required. Typically, students will not require more related services during a week of ESY than they receive during a week of the regular school year.

Please be sure related service needs on the “Student List by Case Manger Form 2017” (form you give to Patty) match documentation on the IEP.

As related service providers have a limited amount of time to work with students during ESY, please indicate which specific objectives (not just the goal) should be targeted.

Consult with current related service providers when determining need for related services during ESY.

**Please remember, changes to an annual IEP must be made by via the “Agreement to Amend” and PWN forms. ** For detailed information regarding the Amendment Process, please refer to "Special Services Resources" in Schoology.

Thank you for all your hard work to provide quality special education service to our students!

Kari Woyda

Assistant Director of Special Services

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Data and all ESY forms are due to Patty Geary at the District Office by April 10th, 2017. Below is a list of all the forms for ESY. All forms except "ESY Services" can be found on the ESY Documents page